


Baby's Breath

by tjmystic



Series: Pre-Season 3 Ficathon [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-10
Updated: 2013-09-10
Packaged: 2017-12-26 04:29:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/961573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjmystic/pseuds/tjmystic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gold overhears Belle talking to Emma about pregnancy and freaks out</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby's Breath

Baby’s Breath  
Rumbelle Genre Week: Romantic

iambicdearie prompted: Rumbelle, ‘laughter and labor’

 

Rating: PG-13 (for mentions of naughty activities)

Author’s Note: I decided to branch out a bit and do something fluffy for once. Well, as fluffy as I can, at any rate - you’ll see what I mean when you start reading :S Oh, and yes I do indeed intend to fully participate in Rumbelle Genre Week as part of my 400 Followers/Pre-Season 3 Ficathon. Enjoy! 

 

Mr. Gold slammed shut the lock on his front door and turned down the sidewalk towards Granny’s. Excepting collection day, he tended to avoid the place like the plague, but, since he’d gotten back from Neverland, he’d been forced to modify that rule. After all, it was the only place in town which served pizza that was worth anything, and his Belle adored the stuff. 

Gold shook his head indulgently. Garlic and pineapple pizza, he thought to himself with a smile. Gods knew why, but that was all she’d wanted to eat for the past week. She’d been going through phases with food since a few days after he returned, actually, from hamburgers with far too much hot sauce on them to teaberry ice cream with caramel. Still, it was what she wanted, and whatever his Belle wanted, she would have.

Besides, it was the best way he could think of to apologize for hurting her the night before. She normally enjoyed it when he was a bit… rough, with his amorous intentions, but it was hard for him to be in favor of something that left her so sore, regardless of how pleased she’d looked while he was doing it. 

The memory left his cheeks red, and he prayed the townsfolk would assume it was from the cold. 

Gold turned the final corner and shuffled up the sidewalk to Granny’s. It was just as busy as it always was it lunchtime, unfortunately, but he forced himself inside all the same, preparing himself for a thoroughly unpleasant experience. At least, he was about to, when he noticed two familiar heads in the corner booth farthest from the door, one blonde and wavy, the other with cascading brunette curls. He smirked – it seemed his daughter-in-law had beaten him to the punch to take Belle out. 

Quietly, he nudged open the door, thankful that no one seemed to notice him as he intended to sneak up on the two women. It wasn’t difficult to slide into the seat behind them, nor to hide himself with a slight wave of his hand. He almost felt ridiculous, playing what was essentially a game of hide-and-seek with his True Love, but her little squeak of surprise, the warmth in her eyes when she realized it was only him, were too tempting to miss out on. Besides, if Snow and Charming could get away with their decades-long game of it, surely the world could indulge him this once.

Before him, Belle anxiously flipped through the book in her hands, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. 

“The sickness, though,” she said quietly, “does it really last a whole month?” 

Whatever amusement he’d been planning instantly died. Sickness? Why would Belle be worried about being sick? His eyebrows creased, his hand raised to remove the enchantment from his skin, but Emma’s voice interrupted him. 

“Two, actually. Or, it was for me and Henry anyway,” she muttered. Sardonically, she raised her glass and clinked it against the side of Belle’s. “Pregnancy, gotta love it, right?”

Gold’s good foot slipped out from under him, sending him sprawling back into the table. A few people turned around at the noise, but, at the moment, he couldn’t care less if he was caught. Just as long as he could hear the end of the conversation. 

“Just be sure to have a lot of garlic pills on hand,” Emma continued. “I know it sounds disgusting, but they’ll keep you from hurling up everything you’ve eaten.”

Belle nodded seriously and scribbled down the advice in the corner of her book. With a lurch of his stomach, he realized what he’d missed upon first seeing it: pink pictures of stuffed animals, balloon-shaped stickers, the title page, which bore the words What to Expect When You’re Expecting. 

He gulped, heart racing like it had been electrocuted. 

“Alright, what about the swelling and the aches?”

“Those aren’t actually as bad as people say. It’s less painful than it is just uncomfortable. Foot rubs will probably help with your feet and your back. Gold spins stuff, maybe he’ll be good at it.” 

Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the words, but it seemed to be enough to calm Belle’s nerves a bit.

“Thank you,” she laughed. “For coming to meet me so we could talk about this. I honestly didn’t know who else to go to. I don’t really trust the hospital staff, considering, and you’re the only person who doesn’t… well…”

Emma’s lip twitched. “Hate your boyfriend?” 

She nodded curtly, her hands visibly clenched on the table. Whatever relief she’d felt was obviously long gone. 

“I… there’s something else, if you don’t mind,” she murmured. “It’s… it’s about Rumple, actually.” 

The blonde looked at her curiously. “Okay, sure. Is something wrong with you two?”

“No. Not yet, anyway.” Belle took a deep breath and another sip of her iced tea. 

“To be honest, I’m more worried about how he’s going to react than anything else. We’ve never talked about this, and I just…” 

She took a deep breath, and leaned closer to their savior. 

“What if he doesn’t want another baby? What if I have a child, and he doesn’t like it? I trust him, I do, and I know he loves me, but what if this isn’t what he wants from us?” 

Emma cocked her head. “I wouldn’t worry about that,” she said. “I mean, yeah, he’s a jerk with pretty much everybody, but he treats kids alright. He’s actually pretty good with them. You know, so long as they aren’t trying to shove your head on a pike.”

Belle’s eyes went wide, and Emma hastily choked down the milkshake she’d taken a drink of. 

“Sorry, sorry, I was talking about the Lost Boys. Trust me, if you’d met them, you’d completely understand why we did what we did. They were like cute little demons from hell.”

If anything, that only seemed to make Belle more nervous. With a sigh, Emma sat down her drink and shut Belle’s book, scooting noticeably closer to her on their bench. 

“Seriously, Belle, don’t worry about it. He lost the chance with his first kid, I don’t think he’d let it happen again. And even Neal says that he was a really good dad before his curse.” She took Belle’s hand, obviously an uncomfortable gesture on her part, but squeezed it calmingly all the same. “If there’s anybody who can bring him back to being that guy, it’s you. It’ll be fine – trust me. I’m pretty good about getting people.”

Belle’s eyelashes beaded with tears, and she fervently squeezed Emma’s hand back. 

“Thank you,” she said again. “I believe in him, I always have. But it’s good to hear somebody else say so, too.” 

Awkwardly, Emma bent in to give her a hug. “Not a problem. Just make sure you let him know as soon as possible. I don’t think anything else will, but keeping him in the dark will definitely make him blow a fuse. Trust me, I know from experience.” 

“Of course,” Belle agreed. 

She returned the hug as much as she could in their cramped space and, without another word on the subject, picked up her coat and stood to her feet. Much more relaxed now, their conversation turned to Henry and how work was going at the sheriff’s station, dying out only when they left the diner and could no longer be heard. 

For Gold, though, they might as well have been silent. 

Tired, so tired, and still somehow shaking like a leaf, Gold ran his hand through his hair. 

How had he not seen this coming? How had he not anticipated this? He and Belle had gone at it like mad the moment he got off the ship, and they still hadn’t really stopped. It should’ve occurred to him to use protection, to at least brew up a simple contraceptive potion for them to take until they were both ready. But now it was too late. The cravings, her heightened sensitivity to his touch – it all made sense. 

She was pregnant. Pregnant. They were going to have a baby.

A cold rush of fear shook his spine. This was wrong, it couldn’t happen. He wouldn’t curse another child to the shame of having him for a father. He wouldn’t make Belle suffer under that pressure. She deserved so much more than that. She deserved so much more than him.

He thunked his head against the table, burying his hands around his ears as if that might block out the rest of the world. If Belle were here and could see him, she’d tell him not to worry. She’d say that it didn’t matter what he thought she deserved, what mattered was what she wanted. Beautiful, trusting woman that she was, she’d say that she wanted nothing more than to have his baby. 

Unanticipated, the image of a little girl with his Belle’s bouncing curls sprang into his mind. A little girl that he could chauffeur to and from school, who would play with his spinning wheel like Bae had when he was small. A child that was so much Belle that even the parts of himself that survived in her would be impossible not to love.

The sight, however imaginary, succeeded in making his heart clench. It wasn’t the future, at least not that he knew of, but it so easily could be. Unless he ran away.

Gold lifted his head from the table, his eyes set in a sharp glare. 

No. He was done running. He was done being afraid of all the miracles Belle brought into his life. This time, he was going to be a good man.

This time, he would be a good father. 

That was what his Belle deserved. 

Steeling himself, Gold gripped the handle of his cane and hobbled out of the diner. He had much to do before Belle got home from work.

—————————————————————————————————————————————-

Belle opened the door to their pink house and stepped in, shivering happily at the warmth that surrounded her after being outside in the cold for so long. Not for the first time, she was immensely thankful for her decision to move back in with Rumplestiltskin after he came back – her flat above the library was never this warm. 

Nor did it have the benefit of her True Love and the warmth he himself possessed. 

Smiling, she toed off her shoes and hung up her coat.

“Rum, I’m home!”

A sound suspiciously like a hammer smashing into a wall had Belle jumping a foot in the air. Worriedly, she fingered the gun she kept in her pocket.

“Rum?” she tried again. 

Footsteps trundled down the stairs. One hand braced on the wall, she edged around the corner, ready to attack if need be once the person reached the first landing. A pair of black shoes padded into view, and she cocked the hammer. 

“Sweetheart, you’re home.” 

Belle’s sigh of relief was audible in the echoing entry hall. It was just her Rumple.

“Hey,” she grinned, carefully placing the weapon back into her pocket. “Sorry I’m late. I would’ve called but –”

The words stuck to her lips, kissed away by Rumple’s mouth moving tenderly against them. Her eyelids fluttered, fingers curling happily into his hair. She couldn’t remember him ever greeting her so softly before. 

“Doesn’t matter,” he finally whispered, only barely breaking away from her. It was enough, though, for Belle to see the smile in his eyes. “I have a surprise for you.”

She grinned. “Oh really?”

Centuries old though he was, the nod he gave her made him look like nothing so much as a little boy. Helpless to stop it, the corners of her lips rose ever higher. 

“Just close your eyes, Belle,” he said. “And no peeking. I promise I won’t let you fall.” 

Something about his words made her skin tingle with anticipation. She’d noticed, shortly after working for him in the castle, actually, that his voice took on an odd tone when he meant more than he was saying. Now was one of those moments. 

“Okay. I trust you.”

She allowed herself to watch himself a second more, just long enough to watch the joy on his face at her faith in him, before shutting her eyelids and offering him her hands. He took them as delicately as if she were made of porcelain, guiding her a step higher than himself before gently nudging her upstairs. His fingers curled around her stomach at the second landing, brushing reverently against the skin there, and she almost lost her balance. No, he’d never quite greeted her so tenderly before. 

“Alright, we’re going to turn left, love,” he instructed. “Watch your feet, I’ve left some things in the hall.”

Excitement made her tremble, but she did as he said, carefully dodging whenever he told her to. If she wasn’t mistaken, he seemed to be leading her in the direction of the guest bedrooms. 

“And we stop… right… here. You… you can open your eyes now.”

His hesitancy gave her a moment’s pause, but her curiosity won out. Her eyelids fluttered open, the same moment Rumple released her hand to turn on the light switch, and he wrapped himself protectively around her as she took it all in.

She’d been right in assuming it was a guest bedroom he was taking her to, the carpet and high ceiling immediately giving the room away. That was the only thing that let her know she’d been right, though. When last she’d seen it, the walls had been white, and there had been no furniture inside except for an ornate twin-sized bed and a pair of curtains. Now, though, yellow paint covered every solid service, reflected in the sheep-shaped glass figurines hanging from the ceiling fan. A tiny bookshelf, small enough that even she would have to bend down to get things from it, stood against the wall closest to her, filled with soft-covered books of various textures and a wide variety of colors. Along the opposite wall, a small pile of stuffed animals ranging from chimeras to dogs covered the floor. Belle glanced back at Rumple in confusion, but he wasn’t looking at her, focusing serenely instead on the bed in the far corner. The room was beautiful, to be sure, but she didn’t understand the point of any of it until she followed his stare. 

The bed that had once sat there had disappeared. The space was now taken up by a single, white bassinet. 

Belle turned about fully in his arms, holding onto his shoulders to keep from falling. “Rum…”

“If you want more traditional colors, I can repaint it pink or blue when we find out,” he murmured. “But I saw this one, and it reminded me so much of your yellow gown. Oh, and I have something else.”

Her eyes watered as he reached behind his back, tugging out a ratty toy lamb with wide button eyes and a smile. Rumple stared at it, then back to her, as if they were the two most important things in his life.

“This is Bae’s old stuffed sheep,” he said softly. “I… I know, it isn’t much. But I thought…” 

Belle took it from his hands, unable to hurt him by turning it down. “Rumple, we… what are…?”

He leant forward and kissed her lovingly on the forehead, squishing the small lamb between them. “I overheard you and Emma in the diner earlier. I shouldn’t have spied on you, but after I heard you…” 

His words died off, and Belle cautiously lifted her face. Her Rumple’s eyes were filled with tears, and the way he looked at her made her heart stop. 

“I wasn’t there, for Bae, for Milah, when she was pregnant. But I promise you, I’m not gonna let that happen again. I won’t break my promise to you.” He took her hands in his, holding the sheep carefully between them. “I will love our child as much as I love Bae, I swear to you.” 

The tears in her own eyes fell free, and his thumb was instantly there to brush them away. She wanted so much to give in to it, to let him caress her and tell her how much I loved her. But she couldn’t ask him to be honest with her if she couldn’t do the same. 

She gulped down her sobs. “Rumple, I’m not pregnant.”

He was still smiling, and that hurt her as much as seeing him upset would’ve done. “What was that?”

Shaking, she settled the sheep onto the new dresser. “I’m not pregnant.”

Rumple stared at her in confusion, his thumbs still petting at her cheeks. Slowly, though, as he searched her face, understanding overcame his expression, turning it almost hard and cold. Belle forced herself not to look away.

“I went to ask Emma about pregnancy in case… in case we ever did. But I’m not.” 

His lips set into a hard line. 

“But… but the food,” he stammered feebly. “You’ve been having strange cravings all week.”

Belle shook her head. “Not that strange. While you were gone, I took up cooking for myself. It took me awhile to figure out how everything worked, so I ate whatever I had on hand. The habit just stuck.”

“Last night? You were so tender after I touched you, I –”

She blushed, but it didn’t stop her tears. “You were just a little rougher than usual. It felt wonderful, really, but that’s why I was sore.” 

The stuffed sheep swung back from her as Rumple dropped his arms. “Oh.” 

He turned away, his weight pressed entirely against his cane, but Belle raced in front of him before he could get more than two steps away from her. 

“Please, Rumple,” she begged. “This… this is exactly what I wanted. That you already care so much for our child, it’s everything I was hoping for. Please, I’m not saying no. Just because I’m not pregnant right now doesn’t mean we won’t ever be. I went to Emma for a reason.”

She waited until he lifted his eyes to look at her, filled with hurt though they were, before finishing. 

“I’m not pregnant, but I want to be,” she promised. A muscle twitched in his cheek, but she raced on before he could interrupt. “I was going to talk to you about it anyway, but I wanted to talk to someone who’s been pregnant before. I know how much you doubt yourself, and I wanted to make sure I knew everything so we could –”

Her voice muffled as Rum pressed her against the wall, pressing soft, wonderfully slow kisses to every inch of her face he could reach. She tugged him closer, ignoring the discomfort of their wet, sticky faces rubbing against each other, just so she could drag him closer. 

“You aren’t upset?” she whimpered under him.

He shook his head so fervently that she couldn’t possibly doubt him. 

“I’d love to have a baby with you, Belle,” he sighed. “More than anything.”

She sobbed happily against him, then returned his favor by pressing her own mouth to his. She felt his grin, his open lips and teeth, with her tongue, and she couldn’t resist breaking away just long enough to touch his face.

“We’re going to have a baby,” she laughed. “We’re going to be –”

Belle felt that her love’s smile could’ve lit up the room as he yanked her close and finished, “- a family


End file.
